SteveWa Photos

7 Stages of a Photographer

Posted on October 5, 2016 by stevewa88

Its pretty aggravating when life gets in the way of what I really want to do – shoot photos and write about them. Then again, so much of what I shoot and write is driven by life experiences. I’ll spare you the mundane details of the past year+ of divorce, moving, dating and losing a good job. Let’s just talk about photography. The Nikon has not been idle during this time, I assure you. In fact, its been some of my best therapy. There’s nothing like a road trip, hike or adventure with camera in hand to soothe stressed nerves and give needed peace and perspective.

I read an article recently read a blog post titled The 7 Stages of a Photographers Development. I have been taking photos since I was 10 years old (that’s 30+ years for those who are keeping score). I have loved the technical and creative aspects of photography from day one. I’ve had some great teachers and mentors along the way. My dad, who put that first camera in my hands during family road trips to keep me entertained and to save himself from unending “are we there yet?” pestering. My high school photography teacher who taught me very little about actual photography, but showed me that I didn’t want to be a pretentious, photography snob.My point is, in over 30 years I have progressed through most of these stages. I now hover somewhere on the border of Stage 6 and Stage 7. It is Stage 7, The Photographer Expressing Things that intrigues me.

Stage 6: The Photographer Who Sees the World as if Through a Camera is very familiar to me. I was at an amusement park last weekend; standing in line for a ride and found myself wishing I had my DSLR. DSLRs aren’t very compatible with roller coasters so I had to settle for my camera phone.

Not bad for a camera phone shot while standing in line at an amusement park. Lagoon, Farmington, Utah

It turned out pretty well, but the point is, spending 3/4 of my life behind a camera has trained me to always be looking for the right composition, great contrasts and just the right light.

The Photographer Expressing Things – what exactly does that mean to me? My first thoughts were of sad, tragic photos of malnourished children in war-torn places. While I appreciate the skill and emotion those photos convey, its not my style. So, does my style express things? Does it evoke emotions?

After some thought I have come to the conclusion that the answer to those questions is very individual. Do my photos convey a feeling to you? They certainly bring emotions to me, but I was there. I experienced that moment. For me, they are looking glass back to a memorable moment. I hope they are more than just nice to look at. If not, that’s okay. What’s most important to me is that my viewers enjoy my work.

Going North, eh?

Posted on May 24, 2015 by stevewa88

My Nana was born in North Sydney, Nova Scotia in 1920. She passed away in Lethbridge, Alberta in April 2015.

I was fortunate to travel to Canada for her funeral. It had been a few years since I last saw her. I’m grateful that was able to bid her farewell and re-live some memories with my parents and sisters. It was a whirlwind 4-day, 2000-mile road trip and it was absolutely wonderful.

My sisters and I undertook a little project while we traveled throughout the areas where our Mom grew up. We knew that with the passing of her mother, there would be little or no reason for her to return to these places again. We wanted her to have a pleasant memory of the places she recalls so fondly. I sought out to photograph some of the key places; her childhood home, elementary school, high school and other places she frequented while growing up in Southern Alberta. When we returned, some of the photos were compiled into a collage, printed on canvas and given to our Mom as a Mother’s Day present. She cried. I think that means she liked it.

This is Southern Alberta: flat with fields of grain as far as the eye can see.

The old, brick grain elevators have long been the dominant building of most towns in Southern Alberta. In the flat, somewhat featureless plains the towering structures are often the only way to find your bearings. Sadly they are rapidly being replaced by concrete cylinders that lack the character and personality of their older cousins. When I think of places like McGrath, Medicine Hat, Milk River and Warner I think of proudly painted grain elevators.

The High Level Bridge in Lethbridge, Alberta. It is the largest railroad structure in Canada and the largest bridge of its type in the world.

The High Level Bridge in Lethbridge, Alberta was completed in 1909. It is the largest railroad structure in Canada and the largest bridge of its type in the world.

I’m a sucker for railroads and bridges – especially old ones. They make marvelous photographs. Put them together and it is hours of photographic adventure. I only had about 30 minutes with this beauty, but it afforded me some nice captures.

My grandfather and his father both worked for the Canadian Pacific Railroad. My grandfather was a freight train conductor. Maybe that explains my life-long fascination with trains and railroads.

Steel bridges built before the late 1930s were constructed using rivets instead of welding. I imagine the welded method creates stronger bridges, but the repeating patterns of the rivet heads add a lot of charm and character to the straight, angular lines of the steel beams.

The Finlay Bridge spans the South Saskatchewan River in Medicine Hat, Alberta.

The thing about Southern Alberta is that its incredibly flat. With the exception of the occasional river bottom or coulee the horizons seem to go forever. I’ve heard many people say its boring. For me, who grew up in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains and have spent most of my life in the mountains the flat prairie lands were fascinating. The feel of unrestricted space was somewhat intoxicating.

Highway 4, south of Lethbridge, AB

For the first time I can remember I was grateful for utility poles in my photos. I needed something to break the horizon.

In the end, the purpose for the trip was melancholy, but the outcomes were delightfully memorable.

Antelope are Not Antelope…and Buffalo are Bison

Posted on February 14, 2015 by stevewa88

For the first time in memorable history I had an entire Saturday to myself. What does a mildly-obsessed amateur photog do with a free weekend? Yeah. He grabs the Nikon and hits the road. I opted for a day trip to Antelope Island.

Antelope Island is a 42 square mile island in the Great Salt Lake. It is the largest of the 10 islands in the Great Salt Lake. The first non-native visitors to the island were John C. Fremont and Kit Carson. The native peoples had told them that the island had plenty of fresh water and lots of Pronghorn Antelope. It is said that Fremont and Carson hunted Pronghorn on the island and named it Antelope Island in honor of the abundance of game.

A bit of the serengeti in Utah

Getting to the island takes you across a seven-mile causeway cutting through Farmington Bay. Due to the salinity of the water and the alkalinity of the soil its safe to say that this stump is not native to the island. Nonetheless, spotting it in the mud flats alongside the causeway demanded a stop. It even warranted slogging through ankle-deep mud to get a few shots. What it didn’t justify was trudging through the slippery mud, lining up a nice shot and discovering that my camera’s SD card was in my laptop, at home; 40 miles away. And that I loaned my spare card to someone who never returned it. After a 10-mile drive back to Syracuse, a stop at Walmart, and returning to line up the shot again I was able to capture the photo above.

Looking Southwest, across White Rock Beach, from Buffalo Point

White Rock Beach sits near the Northwest corner of the island. Above the beach, Buffalo Point climbs to great views of the beach and lake to the West and the Wasatch Mountains to the East. Its a short, steep hike that is well worth the views.

Winding my way around the East side of the Island to Fiedling Garr Ranch

Winding my way around the East side of the Island to Fielding Garr Ranch

Fielding Garr was a Mormon pioneer and a widower with nine children. In 1948, one year after the Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, Garr was asked to go to the island and establish a ranch for raising sheep and cattle. The first building on the island, a small, adobe house was built that year and still stands on its original foundations. It is the oldest structure built by europeans still standing on its own foundations in the state of Utah. For photography buffs the ranch offers an abundance of farm life shots, rusty machinery and shoreline opportunities.

From inside the barn, looking eastward across Farmington Bay

The hood ornament of a rusted-out, flatbed Dodge truck

On weekends, especially in warmer months, the ranch can get fairly busy. Early morning or evening are the best times to beat the crowds and get the best light. Going in January, like I did, also thins the crowds.

I highly recommend wandering some of the paths and trails that meander along the shoreline east of the ranch. The views of the Wasatch Range are spectacular. There’s a good chance of seeing wildlife such as waterfowl, birds of prey, bison, pronghorn (antelope) coyotes and even badgers. Some years ago a brush fire must have gone through the area. It left a scattering of dead and burnt trees among the reeds and grass. They make excellent photographic elements as horizon breaks and for framing a shot

Boardwalk across the mud and reeds

Marsh grasses frozen in a fresh water pond

I need to go back to Antelope Island and explore more of the dirt roads and hiking trails. Most of the human traffic on the island stays to the north end where the ranch and the visitors center are located. I would also like to be on the island for sunset over the Great Salt Lake.

My only regret from this trip was that my pictures of bison didn’t turn out blog-worthy. Oh well. Just another good reason to go back soon.

Charred tree along the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake

Fun Fact: Even though they are commonly called Antelope, they are not actually Antelope. Their true name is Pronghorn. Early settlers to the western U.S. confused them with African Antelope. The same is true of Buffalo. Their real name is American Bison.

Headed home across the causeway

Fresh Snow and an Itchy Shutter Finger

Posted on December 30, 2014 by stevewa88

Fresh powder on American Fork Creek.

Here in Utah winter was a little late arriving this year. The only people complaining were the hardcore skiers…and me. For the first couple of months I actually enjoy winter. The snow and bare trees completely change the landscape and make seemingly ordinary scenes beautiful.

The day after Christmas my son and I joined my parents for a little photographic expedition into the Wasatch. Santa brought 6-12 inches of new snow on Christmas Day. It was the perfect time to get in some great winter shooting. Plus, it had been almost a week since the Nikon and I spent some quality time together in the mountains. So, I was more than eager to exercise my shutter finger.

Snow photography can be more challenging than it appears. First, the vivid, white snow against dark water, trees or ground make for extreme contrasts. The snow also reflects a lot of light making scenes brighter than our eyes perceive them; lots of risk of over-exposure. Finally, there’s white balance. Our cameras aren’t calibrated to see true white. More on that in a minute.

The drastic contrasts of snow photography can actually work in our favor. For one, snow photos often make good black and white shots. Black and white relies on the contrasts of light vs. dark. Whereas color photography relies of the contrasting of colors. Second, the sharp contrast can really make some subjects stand out beautifully. Blue sky against white snow and dark water can be a really eye-catcher. The gnarled trunk of a tree or twisted, leafless branches stand out nicely against pale snow. It also helps to work a little post processing magic, but that’s for another post.

The splashing of the stream makes for fascinating shapes in ice

Its important to be aware that the snow is bouncing light all over the place. Its easy to get caught up in catching details in a dark stream while letting the surrounding snow “wash out” in a blaze of barren white. Snow has texture and shape. It can be very appealing and interesting to capture the contours of a blanket of snow or to capture the glistening snow crystals.

His name is Olaf and he likes warm hugs.

White Balance; there are a couple of ways to confront this issue. The first is to make adjustments on the camera. On Nikon D-series cameras you can go into Scene mode and select “Beach/Snow”. Yes, beach photography is very similar to snow photography. I’m sure Canon, Sony and other manufacturers have similar settings. These settings tell the camera that you are shooting bright white images and to treat whites as true white; instead of the pale gray they are calibrated for. The other option is to deal with white balance during post processing. Photoshop has an automated White Balance setting. I prefer to manually adjust it as I edit my photos.

It was an excellent day as three generations of photography nuts each recorded the glistening winter wonderland in our own way. I hope y’all had a great Christmas. Happy shooting!

Blurring the Lines

Posted on December 23, 2014 by stevewa88

As I mentioned in the previous post, I have been playing with long exposure shots. Basically, the idea is to hold the shutter open for a longer period of time while focused on a moving object. The movement of the object appears as a blur on the photograph. This conveys a sense of motion in an otherwise still photo. Most hand-held photographs are shot at a shutter speed between 1/60 of a second and 1/1000 of a second. In the case of long exposure they can be 1/8 to longer than a second, depending on the light conditions.

The motion of the swift-moving creek takes a ghostly appearance in this 1/2 second capture.

Of course, shutter speeds this long can’t be done free-hand. They require a decent tripod; or at the very least a very stable rock, table, stump, etc. This is one of the primary reasons that I haven’t done a lot with long exposure until now. The tripod can be an unwieldy and heavy piece of equipment; not very convenient for hiking. Add in the fact that unless I am looking for long-exposure opportunities, the tripod doesn’t get used much and you see why my tripod spends most of its time in the closet or the trunk of the car. Nonetheless, its a tool worth having.

The next long-exposure shots I want to experiment with are night shots of moving cars. Then I’d love to work on really long exposure shots of the stars. I’ve seen some incredible captures of blurred stars that I would love to attempt.

I have also seen some impressive long-exposure shots of small waves on a beach. The water takes on a fog-like appearance resulting in an other-worldly feel to the photo.

One of the lessons I learned is to strike the right balance between blurred objects and stationary objects. Too much blur and the photo becomes an unintelligible mess. Not enough motion and the blur blends into the scene and has minimal, if any effect on the shot.

A smaller amount of water falling from a greater height gives this wispy, bridal veil effect.

Finally, my youngest son and took the short hike to this great, hidden waterfall in Big Cottonwood Canyon. While he climbed everything within reach and marveled at a dead mouse I got immersed in photography.

My little man and the hidden falls.

Turkey Day in Southeast Idaho

Posted on December 15, 2014 by stevewa88

For Thanksgiving I loaded up the old four door and visited Rexburg, Idaho. Besides seeing friends, there are two things I love about going to Rexburg. First, they have a Jack-in-the-Box. We have no Jack-in-theBox in Salt Lake. I figure that I only get Jack-in-the-Box two or three times per year and my body can handle such minimal abuse. Besides, who doesn’t love Jack’s tacos? Second, its a great opportunity to photograph stuff that I don’t see everyday at home.

Grain silos along an out-of-use rail line

Railroad tracks are great for depth-of-field shots. The converging lines of the rails draw the eye to the horizon and give a sense of distance. I also love shooting old farm equipment and buildings. Their weathered appearance, faded colors and irregular lines add character to the shot.

My sons and their cousin exploring the Lorenzo Bridge near Rexburg, Idaho.

What’s better than a rail line? A 99-year old, steel, railroad bridge! This bridge over the Snake River has fascinated me for years. The setting is beautiful with tall trees, fast-moving water and unobscured views. But I think what I love most are the lines created by the steel trusses and beams. The old, steel bridges have so much personality, great lines and are far more interesting than the modern, bland, concrete bridges.

Long exposure shot of falls in St. Anthony, Idaho

A few miles up the road is the town of St. Anthony. The Snake River passes through the middle of town and they have a quaint park and war memorial around the falls. Due to the extra bulk and weight, I don’t usually carry a tripod with me. Fortunately for me I had the tripod when we arrived at the falls.

I haven’t done a lot of long exposure shooting so this was a chance to experiment and learn. The first lesson was that I needed to lower the ISO and use a shutter speed of 1/2 second or longer. I also learned the value of balancing the quantities of blurred area and still areas. I got to put those lessons into practice a week or so later, but that’s for another post.

The empty fields where potatoes and grain were thriving a few weeks ago seemed so sleepy. The opportunity to capture that sleepy peace was irresistible.

Solitary grain silos stand watch over vast, empty fields.

As a kid I recall hearing the stories of the devastation caused by the failure of the Teton Dam. The boys and I had to go check out the site where the dam once stood. To see the chasm created as the water broke through the earthen dam was astounding. It was easy to understand how the flood devastated three towns, wiped out miles of prime farmland and killed 11 people.

The Teton Dam site. The canyon wall is on the left and what’s left of the dam to the right. The remnants of the dam’s spillway can be seen on the far side of the canyon.

The light and the wind weren’t very conducive to good photos, but I wanted to show the astonishing amount of earth displaced as the reservoir drained at the rate of 2 million cubic feet per second.

On the drive back to Rexburg we decided to explore some backroads. It paid off nicely when we happened upon this little fixer-upper. The late-day light was a bit harsh, but it couldn’t diminish the weathered glory.

Two room, one outhouse bungalow. Great location. Close to nothing. Could use a little TLC.

I don’t know what kind of plant this is, but caught in the morning light it had an other-worldly appearance.

Welcome to My Memory Card

Posted on December 13, 2014 by stevewa88

I’ve posted my images to Facebook and I’ve connected with some sharp folks via Instagram. Both are nice ways to share pics and ideas. The struggle I’ve always had with both is that I can’t post my pics the way I want to display them. Also, neither site is a good format for describing the location, the scene or the process.

Kodak Instamatic 124

I’ve been toting a camera around since I was about 10 years old. That’s 30+ years, if you’re keeping score. My first camera was a Kodak Instamatic 124. The kind with the single-use flash cubes that practically self-destruct when a bulb flashes.

Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia. This is a scan of a photo I took this with a fixed-focus, 1960s Yashika 35mm that was handed down from my father. I was 14 at the time.

In high school was a photographer and a writer on the school newspaper staff. That’s when I decided that photojournalism was not for me. I hated being told what to photograph.

From there, it was clear that photography would remain a hobby for me. It stayed that way until I entered the world of digital photography. As a young husband and father it was often difficult to justify spending money on film and processing. With digital I could shoot all I wanted; no matter how poor I was at the moment. I was free to experiment and delete the evidence of my errors. That’s when hobby crossed the line into obsession.

This isn’t about becoming a professional. Nor is about trying to impress anyone. This is about my love of photography and my fascination with capturing a great image. The world is lines, colors, contrasts and light. I thrive on the never-ending challenge to bring them all together in the beautifully captured moment.

I’ll be posting shots here as I go along. You can see a lot of my past work on my Instagram account SteveWa88.

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